good morning. i'm willie geist and this is "way too early," the show that's showing a natural tightening. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. e-mail at way too early.com or tweet me @williegeist or text a response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for monday, november 5th yes, tomorrow is election day. there's a lot going on, including bill clinton's suggestion that mitt romney join circumstan cirque de sole. on the eve the presidential

election, today marks one full week since sandy came ashore killing at least 110 people leaving a path of destruction that reshaped stretches of the coast lien here on the northeast. the cover of "new york imagi" me is stunning. this morning, nearly a million people in new jersey are without power or heat as overnight temperatures dip near freezing as cold weather sets in, new york city mayor michael bloomberg says as many as 40,000 people may need to find new places to live, a daunting task, the city known for its tight housing market. the announcement set up the potential return of fema trailers like those used in the wake of hurricane katrina and used not without a lot of controversy. gas lines hours long stretched through the weekend across the tri-state area. in some cases, stations using gas-powered generators to pump

fuel out of the ground. it could be several more days before the country's fuel shortage is resolved. in new york city where 145,000 residents still without power. yesterday's marathon was canceled. that happened for the first time in 40 years. but it didn't stop hundreds of runners from doing the right thing, showing up where the race was supposed to begin in statin ilan. instead of a marathon, they ran a relief effort, jogging through neighborhoods to help dig out debris and offer supplies and good for them. i actually went to staten island on saturday, myself, got a firsthand look. you jump on the staten island ferry, catch the s-78 bus. if you want to help, they could use a lot of hands. it is absolutely wiped out. the first thing you notice is the neighborhood coming together. people literally emptying the contents of their home into the street waiting for garbage trucks to pick them up. what they do next, they just don't know at this point. but they can use hands if you

just go down there, walk up to somebody who's trying to move a desk 0 a chair or bed out of his house, give him a hand and throw it out into the street, sweep up with them, help move supplies with the first aid groups. there's a lot going on in statin island in rockaway beach on the south shore of long island on the jersey shore. they can always use hands if you can make it. this morning for the first time, many children are heading back to school. as more schools gain power only one-third of new jersey's 2,400 schools are open. the telethon raised nearly $23 million for the american red cross storm relief effort. thank you all for watching on friday night and for your overwhelming response. well, after more than a year of campaigning, including primaries, conventions, debates, we're now just about 24 hours away from election day. new polling giving us a final snapshot of how close the race is. in a general election matchup of likely voters, this is national now, three major polls have it

all as a statistical tie if not an outright tie. nbc/"wall street journal" gives the president a one-point advantage. that's a tie. the same poll taken eight years ago, strikingly similar. and george w. bush held the same lead over senator john kerry the day before the election in our nbc/"wall street journal" poll, that's in 2004. in battle ground states including colorado, ohio, virginia, florida, new hampshire, president obama has a slight advantage. he leads mitt romney by 4 points. again, that is within the margin of error. there's good news for president obama on his handing of hurricane sandy nationally, 67% say they approve of the way the president dealt with the disaster. back to the batting ground where tomorrow's election will be decided in iowa with the latest "des moines register" poll has president obama over mitt romney by five points.

in new hampshire and pennsylvania, all tied at 47% in both those states. that's according to a wmur and tribune review polls. pennsylvania hasn't gone republican since 1988. virginia, ohio, colorado, statistical tie. the columbus dace patch has the president up two in ohio and the denver post has him up two in colorado. all three of those are within the margin of error. this is a tight race. i think you get the picture here. the candidates spending the final hours locking up their position on the trails. mitt romney is on to columbus, ohio, capping in new hampshire with special guest kid rock. he ends the day where his 2008 campaign began, in des moines, iowa. the president is leaning on two big names in music to help rally

voters today. how about this? bruce springsteen and jay-z will perform joining the president on the trail throughout the midwest. over the weekend in new hampshire, president obama and former president bill clinton appeared together for the first time of the 2012 race. president obama thanking president clinton for his hard work while clinton continued to zero in on mitt romney's record. >> let me just say, president clinton has been traveling all across the country for this campaign. he has been breaking it down so well that people tell me i should ask him to be secretary of explaining stuff. the only clinton working harder than him is our secretary of state, hillary clinton. >> his opponent decided to oppose it. and now he's trying to figure out how to get out of that in

ohio where one in eight jobs is tied to the auto industry. he's tied himself in so many knots trying to say he didn't oppose what he clearly opposed that i expect any day he'll be offered a job as a chief contortionist. >> on the trail in cleveland yesterday, romney unveiled a new line of attack following a comment president obama made overt weekend. >> no, no, no. don't boo, vote. vote. voting's the best revenge. >> in his closing arguments, president obama asked his supporters to vote for revenge. for revenge. instead i ask the american people to vote for love of country. >> so what did the president mean by that? the obama campaign says his quote was a reaction to scare

tactic television ads put out by the romney campaign. "the new york post" editorial board delivered some advice. new jersey governor chris christie has been praising the president's handling of hurricane sandy. in the sunday paper, the post editorial board writes christie needs to re-assure his party and not just his party that he hasn't turned coat. we're not talking about bringing romney in for a tour of jersey's devastation but a brief, clear reminder of where chris christie stands. if he doesn't do that, the republican party will never forgive him. yesterday, chris christie dismissed the idea that he gave president obama a boost in this election. >> telling the president of the united states he's done a good job when he's done a good job equals an endorsement. the fact of the matter is, mitt romney knows this, so does the president of the united states. i endorsed mitt romney 13 months ago because i thought he was the best guy for the job. on tuesday i'm voting for mitt romney because i think he's the best guy for the job.

it doesn't mean that i can't turn to the president of the united states of america and say thank you, sir, for providing good leadership in this crisis and helping the people of new jersey and extend my hand of friendship to him. this shows you how broken our political system is. vice president joe biden making a bold prediction. >> what do you think will happen? >> i think that we're going to win. i don't think it's going to be close in the electoral college. i think we'll win clearly and i think you're going to see i think we're going to win this state, ohio. i've been here 23, 24 days, something like that. iowa, we're going to win wisconsin, nevada, we're going to win new hampshire. i think we have a chance of winning virginia and florida. it could be a big win. and it also could be close. >> joining me now, msnbc/"time" magazine nbc political analyst

mark halperin. we just went through all those polls. the national polls, we know it's not a national referendum, but they all tell the same story. it's tied. the president seems to be leading but all within the margin of error. where is this race one day out? >> all within the margin of error. the obama campaign argued from the beginning that they're stronger in the swing states, they've targeted those states from the beginning. they don't look at the national number. in those swing states like in ohio they've targeted white working class voters on the auto bailout. and some of other battle ground states they've targeted hispanics and younger voters and african-americans and women. the president's team has a logic to what they've done. until we see the actual results, there's reason to believe that they're stronger in the battleground states than they are nationally. a one or two-point or even

status nationally might not be translating into the battle ground states which is what they care about. >> mitt romney is running up the deficit so high in the states he's going to win anyway. the national polls are tighter because he's winning big in his home states. >> in some of the southern states, the president could get by modern standards vote totals. the president will do quite well in new york and california and some of the other blue states. that's part of why the national polls might not be that great an indicator. >> these national states haven't seen the advertising, haven't seen the campaigning, haven't seen the targeted messaging. that's where the president's team has built the operation that they think will allow them to go from tied nationally to a little bit of an advantage. >> it depends which poll you look at. most of them show mitt romney has a lead among independents. if you're the romney campaign is that your reason for optimism tonight and tomorrow? >> three reasons to be optimistic. one is in a lot of polls, they're doing betting with independents. in a state like ohio, the

candidate who wins independents usually wins. david axelrod such as much on the show last week. an incumbent below 50% at 47%, 48%, you have to think you might lose. and third is, ever reporter who's been out in the last week with the candidates has seen there's a lot of enthusiasm on the republican side. i'm not saying there's not enthusiasm for the president. there is. it's not at the level of 2008. there's no question there is enthusiasm for mitt romney above what senator mccain had four years ago. >> in about 40 hours, i guess, we can stop speculating which we've been doing for a year and a half. mark, thanks so much. we'll see you in a few minutes on "morning joe." tomorrow, "way too early," special extended coverage from democracy plaza outside our building here at 30 rock. we get things started around 5:30 a.m. and end sometimes around thanksgiving. 5:30 in the morning until noon

tomorrow. that's 6 1/2 hours. 6 1/2 hours we will be on the air with you. skip work, come out and hang out with us. still ahead, no candidate cameos on "snl" this year but we got a dose of the fake mitt romney and what he'd like to say if there weren't those pesky politics involved. the atlanta falcons are undefeated. highlights from their sunday nighter against the cowboys and the full day in the nfl, ahead in sports. all that and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. having lost a close one eight years ago and having won a close one, i can say this, winning's a lot more fun. ♪

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democracy plaza, from high above at 5:46 on the morning the day before election day. as you can see, we are ready here at nbc. want to go outside there right now. that's where we find nbc meteorologist bill karins. can you smell the democracy in the air out there, friend? >> i can. it will be so packed here tuesday night. it will be ridiculous. it's all decked out. the the special feblgs as we go throughout the night. i have to worry about a forecast for a storm. thankfully it won't be here tuesday night blowing threw as everyone's out here on the plaza. we'll be dealing with a nor'easter right on the heels of this house torque hurricane. let me take you through the evolution of this. that storm is located over the heartland, bringing rain to iowa and missouri, heading down into arkansas and memphis. as we go throughout the forecast today that will move to the south and we'll see rain developing, maybe even showers and thunderstorms along the golf. as we head to election day, this is where we'll see a rainy,

soggy southeast. i don't think it will affect the voter turnout too much. it may rain late in the day around norfolk and virginia beach. almost zero issues getting to the polls. as far as northern portions of wisconsin and minnesota, a light wintry mix. by your standards, really no big deal. election day looks nice for getting to the polls. let me take you to the nor'easter part of the storm. it heads up the coast. there is cold air. the high elevations of maryland, pennsylvania, the poconos, up through the berkshires, the white and green mountains and the adirondacks. for the areas really affected by sandy, the coastal zone from did he delaware to connecticut, long island and new york city and, of course, the jersey shore, it will be windy, rainy and cold. we could get large waves doing additional damage at the coast. we could have winds gust high enough, 60 miles per hour, that we may get additional power outages.

that's wednesday afternoon, evening, into thursday morning. so it doesn't affect the election but it's not what this area needed, not at all. >> it's affecting something a lot more important, the cleanup which is almost impossible to begin with. thank you so much. the undefeated atlanta falcons hosting the cowboys on nbc. pick it up in the fourth quarter, score tied at 6. michael turner punches it in from three yards out. 13-6, falcons. the only touchdown of the night for them. atlanta wins 1 -13. they are 8-0. cowboys fall to 3-5. giants hosting steelers. a loot of people fighting here in the hurricane of hurricane sandy. first responders honored in a pregame ceremony out at the meadowlands. roger goodell donated $1 million to the relief effort on behalf of the nfl. new jersey native victor cruz among those spending time with the first responders before the game. in the game, though, the steelers, pick it up in the second quarter, ben

roethlisberger stripped by osi umenyio umenyiora. boley takes it for the score. there was a

luck finds a rookie. luck threw for an nfl rookie record in this one. two touchdowns. colts win 23-20. they are 5-3 after being dreadful last year. the dolphins back to 500 at 4-4. not a bad day for the colts former qb. cincinnati facing the bengals. fourth quarter, broncos up four, manning puts the game away. beautiful back shoulder throw to eric decker. broncos win 31-23. they've on top of the nfc west behind peyton manning at 5-3. the last two heisman trophy winners going at it, cam newton taking on rg3 and the skins. cam newton looking long for armante edwards. sets up a one-yard scoring td by newton. the panthers win 21-13. we show you this game because, since the redskins relocated to d.c. in 1937, the outcome of the

last game before the election has become a good indicator as to who will win. eight of the last nine times when they lost the final home game, the incumbent lost the election. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," well over a year of speeches, debates and gaffes by presidential candidates, the speculation ends tomorrow and the voters decide. the "morning joe" crew will get you ready for election day 2012. and when we come back, we'll huddle around the water cooler. "way too early" coming right back. 2013 chevrolet malibu. sleek new styling... sophisticated dual cockpit design, and sport sculpted seats. available chevrolet mylink infotainment system.

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the recovery really has only just begun for many of those in the northeast impacted by hurricane sandy. people like those in the pictures behind me in statin ilan. with a lot of people forced to relocate because of the damage caused by the storm, voter turnout is expected to be down from 2008. if you want to sound 1345r9 today, tell your friends according to the nbc news political team president obama stans to lose as many as 340,000 votes from the heavily democratic northeast as a result of hurricane sandy. that number assumes a 15% decrease in voter turnout from 2008. and though a lower voter turnout in the region would hurt the

president's popular vote couldn't the if won't affect his electoral college total because he has states like new york and new jersey well in hand. enough with the real news for a moment. let's huddle around the water cooler to watch "snl" take a crack at mitt romney's closing argument. >> this week has been very trying for a lot of americans and my heart goes out to everyone in the new york and new jersey area. and in these trying times, i think there's something very important that a lot of people are forgetting. >> which is? >> i'm mitt romney and i'm still running for president. >> what are the issues that sandy has brought to the forefran front is disaster relief. it has been pointed out in one of the republican debates, you said you'd cut fund tock fema. >> that was a comment i made during a republican primary debate. that's like judging a person's behavior while they're pledging a from a tenpy.

you can't hold a man, or a woman to what he, or she, said at a republican primary debate. when i said we should get rid of fema, it was sunny. >> you wouldn't defund fema as president? >> it hurts my feelings that you would think that, seth. it really does. okay? because if there's anything people should know about mitt romney at this point it's that nothing, i've said in the past should be any indication of my positions in the future. >> we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. if president obama wins re-election, we'll miss that mitt romney. "morning joe" just moments away. [ male announcer ] we got a mom and the family car to prove that febreze car vent clips could eliminate the odor. [ woman ] take a deep breath, tell me what you smell. something fresh. a clean house. [ woman ] take your blindfolds off. oh!! hahahaha!!! [ male announcer ] febreze car. eliminates odors, so you can breathe happy.

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